Hands Held High
Hands Held High is the seventh track on Linkin Park's album Minutes to Midnight. It is a rap song performed by Mike Shinoda to a military style drumbeat. Along with Bleed It Out, it is the only song to feature Shinoda's rapping vocals. Stylistically it is quite similar to Shinoda's side project, Fort Minor, most notably between Hands Held High and the fourth single from Fort Minor's album, Where'd You Go. The chorus consists of the entire band singing "Amen" as a choir. In live performances, Chester Bennington sings the chorus alone. At the end of the song, Mike Shinoda sings "With hands held high into a sky so blue, until the ocean opens up to swallow you", making it one of the four songs on the album to feature his singing vocals (the other three being In Between, The Little Things Give You Away and No Roads Left). Like Given Up and Bleed It Out, Hands Held High features profanity, unlike Linkin Park's previous songs which featured no profanity whatsoever. Lyrically, the song critiques the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the leadership of then president George W. Bush. Lyrics Turn my mic up louder, I got to say something Lightweights steppin' aside when we come in Feel it in your chest, the syllables get pumping People on the street then panic and start running Words on loose leaf sheet, complete coming I jump in my mind, I summon the rhyme I'm dumping Healing the blind, I promise to let the sun in Sick of the dark ways we march to the drumming Jump when they tell us that they wanna see jumping Fuck that, I wanna see some fists pumping List something, take back what's yours Say something that you know they might attack you for 'Cause I'm sick of being treated like I had before Like it's stupid standing for what I'm standing for Like this war's really just a different brand of war Like it doesn't cater to rich and abandon poor Like they understand you, in the back of their jet When you can't put gas in your tank, these fuckers Are laughing their way to the bank, and cashing their check Asking you to have the passion and have some respect For a leader so nervous in an obvious way Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day In the living room, laughing like, "What did he say?" Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen In my living room watching it, I am not laughing 'Cause when it gets tense, I know what might happen The world is cold, the bold men take action Have to react to get blown into fractions At 10 years old, it's something to see Another kid my age drugged under a Jeep Taken and bound and found later under a tree I wonder if he had thought 'the next one could be me' Do you see the soldiers that are out today? They brush the dust from bulletproof vests away It's ironic, at times like this you'd pray But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday There's bombs on the buses, bikes, roads Inside your market, your shops, and your clothes My dad, he's got a lot of fear, I know But enough pride inside not to let that show My brother had a book he would hold with pride A little red cover with a broken spine on the back He hand-wrote a quote inside, "When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die" Meanwhile, the leader just talks away Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay The rest of the world watching at the end of the day Both scared and angry, like "What did he say?" Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen With hands held high into a sky so blue The ocean opens up to swallow you With hands held high into a sky so blue The ocean opens up to swallow you With hands held high into a sky so blue The ocean opens up to swallow you With hands held high into a sky so blue The ocean opens up to swallow you With hands held high into a sky so blue The ocean opens up to swallow you Music video Trivia *This song has most often been rapped without any music in live performances, most notably, in the live CD Road to Revolution. Category:Linkin Park songs Category:Minutes to Midnight